The Watering Hole

Living in

Africa

really sends home how unpredictable life can be. Little things like having to rearrange your day because of power or water outages or rethinking what you’re going to eat because the store no longer has what you want. We’ve learned to be very flexible and laid back about these things.

 

However, up to the end of December my life had become a little too predictable. While volunteering at Amani was very fulfilling and took up some of my time, I still found myself at home, alone, and bored quite often. So when we heard that our favorite bar would be closing down because the two Swedish managers were heading home, I thought, “Maybe I could do that.” Two days after sending an email to the owner expressing my interest it was official: I was the new manager at The Watering Hole, only the coolest bar in Moshi!

 

The Watering Hole is just a few minute walk from our house. It is a kind-of “member’s only” bar, which mainly means that there is no sign out front and we don’t advertise. We have an email list of about 200 people and apart from that we rely on word of mouth. We share the piece of land with the owner’s main business- a hunting safari company.

 

This past month has been a whirlwind of renovations, menu planning, shopping and cooking. On site (for the safari company) there are carpenters, welders and masons, and since it is their off season I’ve been able to get them to help me with countless projects. We’ve rethatched the bar roof, installed new lighting, planted a garden, cleaned out a horrendous store room, connected a generator, replaced refrigerators, cemented the outdoor kitchen floor, moved the movie screen to allow for a bigger audience, created a parking lot, and countless other little things.

 

Joe and James (our current roommate and professional bartender) helped me create an awesome new cocktail menu and have been huge helps to me behind the bar. Moshi has never seen bartenders like this. Our opening night was incredibly busy and the two of them worked like a machine!

 

Previously The Watering Hole only served food if you ordered ahead of time. This was first on my list of things to change. We now have a small menu (hamburgers, chicken salad sandwiches, quesadillas, bruschetta, baked macaroni and cheese, brownies…) which you can order anytime. We are still working out the kinks of how much to prepare and have regularly been selling out of food.

 

I have three employees (not including my barmen); Mama Happy who does the cleaning, Heaven, my chef and J.C., who does everything else! They’ve all been working for the safari company for years and are some of the best employees they’ve got. I really could not be doing this with out Heaven and J.C. They are on top of everything and really know how to get things done!

 

We’ve got three weekends (we’re only open Thursday through Sunday) under our belt now, and each one has been better than the last. Things are getting into more of a routine now, Heaven knows how to cook everything and doesn’t need me in the kitchen as much and we have less projects going on during the week (although still some! A new sound system, sun umbrellas, a pizza oven?!). Monday was my first full day off all month. Tuesdays I’m still going to Amani to do art with the kids.

Comments

[jenny Hewitt]

Wow this sounds amazing! Good to hear that all your helpers are good ones! Love you!

[Roger]

Can't wait to help tend bar!!
Dad